BP is in a position to contemplate boosting dividends and acquiring with the oil giant in the best shape it has been in since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill chief executive Bob Dudley has told Reuters.
With crude trading at around $80 per barrel, Mr Dudley told the agency BP will consider boosting returns to shareholders after it has reduced its debt pile.
The American executive said he expects to lead the company into 2020. Expansion is on the cards.
Oil and gas companies must help meet growing global demand for energy while reducing emissions.
“I am optimistic about the climate change if you can combine renewables wind and solar and natural gas,” said Mr Dudley. BP will invest around $500m a year in low carbon energy and technology in coming years out of a total of $15bn to $17bn. It will continue to develop conventional oil and gas projects and may invest in shale at the right price.
Regarding the challenges BP faced in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill, Mr Dudley said: “The worst moment was when I heard that our debt was untradable back in the summer of 2010... To me that was a moment of the unthinkable was possible.”
BP sold North Sea assets it deemed non core and axed around 600 jobs in the area amid the sharp fall in the crude price from 2014 to 2016.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here